The present invention relates to a multi-disk player system, and more particularly to a multi-disk player capable of containing a plurality of disks and successively selecting any one of the disks and continuously playing them back. This invention also particularly relates to a disk holder for holding disks and for being incorporated in a multidisk player body in such a manner that it can be installed and removed therefrom. There is known a Jukebox as a multi-disk player system that is capable of accommodating a plurality of disks and which enables continous playing of music on a series of randomly selected disks. The jukebox may be regarded as a common type of multi-disk player, but the conventional jukebox is contained within a very large cabinet and is not suitable for use at home.
With the recent advance in digital recording technology, several types of digital audio disks (hereinafter abbreviated as DAD) have been developed and are in extensive use. Compared with the conventional analog audio disks, DADs feature an increased information capacity and a reduced noise problem during reproduction. Small-sized DADs (o.d. of about 12 cm) are commonly referred to as compact disks which are adapted to have signals written and read thereon by a laser beam; compact disks are simple to use and enable reduction in the overall size of the disk player. Making use of these features of small-sized DADs, audio makers have recently developed a multi-disk player which is ideal as a home jukebox and which is capable of continuous playing of a plurality of (typically 5 or 6) compact disks. It is worth nothing that a single compact disk can play approximately one hour, which is equivalent to about 1.5 times the information capacity of the conventional analog audio disk. This means that 6 compact disks have a capacity of about 120 pieces of music assuming that each piece continues for a period of 3 minutes on average, and as a result, the listener can make his own music library containing favorite pieces in magazines classified by genre such as jazz, chanson or classics.
A multidisk player basically comprises a playback means including a turntable and a pickup, a disk holder for holding disks and for being inserted and fitted in a loading means within a player housing, and a disk-unloading/conveying mechanism for conveying a disk loaded on the disk holder to a playback position, i.e., onto the turntable.
When a disk is conveyed onto the turntable in the disk holder in such a multidisk player, the disk is normally moved in two directions parallel and roughly perpendicular to the disk-holding face of the turntable. In the multidisk player already developed, however, the above disk-unloading/conveying mechanism for the disk conveyance is so operated as to directly hold the disk end at the disk-ejecting side or hold the whole body thereof and eject it from the disk holder. Since the disk-unloading/conveying mechanism, to say nothing of the disk-holding mechanism, is not only complicated but also large in size and further requires a large space for operation, it has been difficult to make compact the player as a whole and to prevent the increasing cost.
In a multidisk player newly developed to solve the above problems, as disclosed by Japanese Patent Application No. 104303/85 (not prior art within a meaning of 35 USC 102), the disk holder includes a housing and a plurality of plate-shaped trays, each being capable of holding the disk on its principal face and of being ejected from or retracted in the housing along the principal face. In other words, by simply ejecting each plate-like tray loaded with the disk from the housing, the disk is conveyed in one direction (parallel to the disk-holding face of the turntable). Accordingly, this multidisk player is simpler in construction than what is equipped with the disk-unloading/conveying mechanism for directly ejecting the disk out of the disk holder by holding the end of the disk in the disk-ejecting direction or the whole body thereof with the complicated mechanism so that the former can readily be made compact and less costly.
In the disk holder thus constructed, however, it is to be appreciated that part of a tray being ejected may touch the surface of the disk loaded on the adjacent tray and the disk will be damaged when the tray loaded with the desired disk for being replayed is ejected out of the housing.
Further, according to the multidisk player under development, when pieces of music in a particular field such as jazz are played back using a multidisk player developed so far, the disk holder loaded with disks storing pieces in other fields is replaced with another loaded with disks storing pieces in the desired field or otherwise any one of the disks contained in the disk holder pulled out of the player housing is replaced with another storing pieces in the desired field and then the disk holder is again loaded to the loading means in the player housing. Moreover, if a plurality of disks are required, the above described disk replacement operations must be carried out with respect to each of the desired disks.
Therefore, a disk replacement operation would be troublesome for the audience, and high operability is needed.
The disk-unloading/conveying mechanism for bidirectionally conveying the disk includes a tray-ejecting means for ejecting the tray loaded with the disk to be played back from the housing of the disk holder and a disk shift means for shifting the disk loaded on the tray thus ejected from the housing in the direction roughly perpendicular to the disk-holding face of the turntable. The tray-ejecting means has a support member extending along the direction in which the trays are arranged, a moving member installed on the support member movably in the direction of the arrangement of the trays and loaded with the playback means (the turntable and the pickup), tray-ejecting member installed on the moving member in a fixed direction and used to eject the tray from the housing of the disk holder by successively mating with each tray, a tray-ejecting member shift means for shifting the tray-ejecting member, together with the moving member, to the position where the tray loaded with the disk to be played back mates therewith, and a tray-ejecting member driving means for driving the tray-ejecting member to be ejected from the housing.
In other words, by shifting the playback means as a whole including the turntable and the pickup, together with the moving member loaded with the playback means, along the direction in which trays are arranged, each tray is shifted relative to the turntable in the direction of the arrangement of the trays. Moreover, by driving and shifting the tray ejecting member, each tray is pushed out of the housing of the disk holder to position the disk on the tray right under the turntable. Copending U.S. application, commonly assigned, has been filed with Ser. No. 837,121, filed on Mar. 7, 1986.